The waitress stops by and we all order. My mind keeps working around the “prank.” If it even was a prank. It’s never happened before, but she’s never been claimed by the horsemen before either. That’s the coincidence I can’t get over.
If someone’s targeting my girl, they better hope they’re bigger or faster than me because they will regret it.
The server leaves us and I home in on Harper again.
Harper breathes out and says, “Luke stopped by last night, and I asked him to stay because I was freaking out, but nothing happened besides sleep. That’s pretty much everything.”
Huh. Luke promised us he’d maintain distance over the weekend after the lunch incident. All our eyes go to Luke.
“I left the party and went home. Harper’s camera was on, but she wasn’t in her room. I texted her and didn’t hear back, so I went to check on her.” Luke leans back and meets all our eyes. “When I realized she was safe, I tried to leave.”
“Her webcam wasn’t on when I got home.” I can’t help putting that out there.
Harper wads up a straw wrapper. “I closed it when I came upstairs after falling asleep downstairs. None of you were there by then, and it was a little depressing staring into your empty rooms, knowing you were out partying. So I shut it and tried to go to sleep. That’s when Luke showed up.”
Harper breathes out and looks each of us in the eye with determination.
“I’m not sure why this is important. We didn’t fool around or have sex. We slept. I was scared and alone and he was there. End of story. No boundaries were moved and I’m just as you left me on Friday.” She crosses her arms. “I hope I can say the same about all of you.”
Her eyebrow cocks up, and she looks sexy as hell, staring us all down like we did something wrong.
“You honestly think we got laid last night?” Jack asks. “Not that it couldn’t have happened. I mean, this Penny chick was all sorts of persistent, but we do have standards. Otherwise our numbers would be much higher, sweetheart.”
Her cheeks flush red. “It’s not like I don’t have reasons to believe you would want sex this weekend.”
“You can make us out to be man whores all you want, kitten.” Eli leans forward with his elbows on the table. “But the reality is we don’t spread ourselves around. We can wait for you to be ready.”
Harper crosses her legs and swings her foot a little, apparently still not satisfied with that answer.
“If you’d left your webcam on, you would have seen us all come home alone around two a.m.” I stretch back in my chair. “We had a tough game, trying to protect Luke’s fragile ass. We celebrated with a few beers and a game of beer pong with the guys. Then we went to sleep.”
“We’re not letting you slip by on a technicality, kitten.” Eli’s gaze takes all of her in. “You won’t get away from us that easily.”
Her mouth opens and shuts, but she doesn’t add anything.
“Does your mom work tonight?” I lean my elbows on the table.
“She shouldn’t. She went in because someone called out last night.” Harper pauses as the server stops with our food. It takes the poor woman two trips to load up our table.
“If she does, text us. We’ll set up a schedule to watch outside, but we don’t want to seem like stalkers if your mom is home.” I cut up my pancakes.
“You don’t have to do that. Mom should be home. Besides, you guys probably have stuff to do tonight.” Harper keeps her eyes on her plate as she eats her eggs.
“Even if we havestuff, you take priority if someone is messing with you.” I know I speak for all the horsemen when I say this. “We protect what’s ours.”
“It was just some kids playing around.” She meets my eyes and gives me a small smile. “But thank you.”
I’m not going to back off this, even though I give her a nod. The four of us haven’t gotten to where we are without making a few enemies. While no one is willing to go after us, Harper is a prime target. We’ve never claimed a girl. Never shown public displays of affection with any girl. We’ve marked her as special to us.
And that can bring out the haters.
Jack tells Harper a play-by-play of last night’s game. For her part, she acts interested as he goes on about how everyone was out for Luke’s blood. Her eyes flick to Luke’s shoulder. As for Luke, his control appears to be in place. Especially if he spent the night with Harper alone in bed and nothing happened. Who knows, maybe he just needed a cuddle. I snort and everyone turns to look at me.
“What?” I stuff my face with pancakes. Death needing a snuggle. That shit is funny.
“I should get home.” Harper stands and gestures to the door. She takes a twenty out of her purse.
“Nah, little nympho, your money is no good here.” I push her hand back.
